Athletics: Canadians Brent Lakatos and Virginia McLachlan each win silver on day 3 of IPC World Championship

Lyon, France - Brent Lakatos of Dorval, Que., and Virginia McLachlan of Windsor, Ont., each won silver medals today at the 2013 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championship in Lyon, France. The silver was Lakatos' second medal at these World Championships having won gold yesterday in the 400-metres.

In the T53 classification wheelchair 800-metres Lakatos won silver in a time of 1:43.43. "It always feels great to represent my country; I'm just disappointed I couldn't win gold this time," said Lakatos. He adds, "The conditions out there were difficult (very windy). I thought I'd be fine since it wasn't raining but it was so wet that the backwash from the other guys made it challenging." Brent adds, "I'm excited for more racing to come."

Virginia McLachlan captured silver in the women's T35 ambulatory 100-metres with a new Area and Canadian Record of 16.07 seconds to improve the records she set yesterday in the semi final (16.13). "I am thrilled!" an ecstatic McLachlan proclaimed after her race. "When my grandmother was alive, we both loved dragon flies - it was our thing. Five minutes before we left the call room a dragon fly came in and landed on my bag. I am just so happy," added a tearful Virginia.

Rachael Burrows of Barrie, Ont., and Kyle Whitehouse of St. Catharines, Ont., finished seventh in their respective 100-metre finals. Rachael clocked in at 21.74 in the women's wheelchair T34 classification while Kyle ran 11.82 in the T38 ambulatory category.

In the women's T53 800-metres wheelchair semi final Ilana Dupont of Saskatoon, Sask., finished just outside of qualifying for the final but did cross the finish line in a new Canadian Record of 1:58.43. "That was awesome!" said Ilana immediately following the race. She added, "I've never been happy to finish last in a heat, but with that time I was this time. I just kept looking back at the clock and was excited to see the time."

In the men's T54 wheelchair 800-metres final Jean-Paul Compaore of Sherbrooke, Que., finished sixth in 1:41.26 while Josh Cassidy of Ottawa, Ont., was eighth in 1:44.16.

Alister McQueen of Calgary, Alta., qualified for the final in the men's T44 ambulatory 100-metres. His time of 11.64 secured his spot in a World Record setting semi final. "It's relieving to be through to the final", says Alister. "It's definitely a little slick out there (because of the rain), I may have missed a step or two but I'm excited to be in the final and to maybe break another Canadian Record tomorrow."

Diane Roy of Sherbrooke, Que., finished third in her heat, 1:54.44, of the T54 wheelchair 800-metres semi final to qualify to tomorrow's final.

In the T11 visually impaired 800-metres the duos of Jason Dunkerley and guide runner Joshua Karanja and Jon Dunkerley and guide runner Brian Cummings did not advance to the final. Dunkerley/Karanja raced to a time of 2:06.30 in their semi-final heat while Dunkerley/Cummings clocked in at 2:13.87.